Artificial greens are well known for practicing one's golf skills, and are a common fixture of homes, offices, hotels, and resorts, as well as being employed in the popular activity of “miniature golf.” Typically, such practice greens have a surface covered with carpet or artificial turf and one or more holes into which the ball is putted.
Although traditional practice greens are useful to a degree, their benefits and enjoyability are limited by the fact that in most cases they are static structures which cannot be adjusted to provide added challenge or an element of variety. For example, many prior practice greens are simply long, flat surfaces, which provide no challenge above a certain level. In other cases practice greens have been made that incorporate certain obstacles, such as a small “sand trap” or “water hazard”, but while they might add some challenge or entertainment value these features bear little or no resemblance to the conditions the golfer will encounter on a green on an actual course.
On actual putting greens, of course, the greatest challenge is usually provided by the uneven contour, with various slopes and breaks so that one cannot simply putt the ball straight towards the hole and expect it to go in. Rather, to make a putt with a slope and/or break, the speed by which the ball is hit is equally important as the direction of the ball. In many courses these features are intentionally designed into the greens, and it is a critical skill of a master golfer to be able to “read” these contours so as to be able to effectively compensate for them in making a successful putt. In point of fact, the slopes and contours of the greens of many major golf courses are cataloged and studied in depth by both professional and amateur players.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a practice putting green having a surface that is readily adjustable to a wide range of contours. Furthermore, there exists a need for such a putting green that permits varied and subtle contours to be formed within the overall lie of the surface. Still further, there exists a need for a practice putting green that will allow golfers to study the greens of many major golf courses.